Write a story about a character who struggles to translate their thoughts and feelings into words and action.

Posted in Angst on Dec 16, 2022

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✍️ 53 stories

“Screaming Flowers” by Wendy Kaminski

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #177

Outdoors, it is a brilliantly sunny day in May, and the sunshine forces its way indoors unbidden.Her apartment window is propped open, and a stiff breeze invades the studio, but no curtains billow: the room is empty now, its only decoration a mural of huge flowers in a riot of colors on a chipped and fading wall. She painted that mural with her own hands, but she thinks perhaps she should have put some of that effort into repainting the wall, as well. Now the too-loud colors of the flowers seem to scream at her from their deteriorating priso...

97 comments 97

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“The Papercut” by Liv Chocolate

Submitted to Contest #177

When I wake up, the doctor gives me the facts. She delivers them to me gently—her voice like a warm cup of water you could steep a bag of tea in. Somehow, she’s made a car accident sound like a papercut, and so I decide that's what I'd like to call it from now on—a papercut. Can you feel your toes? she asks.I think so. It’s hard to tell. Hm. Can you tell me your name? John.Can you see anything, John? No. Is that normal?Typically. She excuses herself to check on another patient, and I anxiously wait for her to co...

43 comments 43

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“The Bare Necessities of Humanity” by Aeris Walker

Submitted to Contest #177

AugustThe foyer of St. Mary’s orphanage smells likes lye soap and freshly baked bread.“Professor Gray, bless you for coming.”The click of heels echoes through the hallway before I see her face—stoic and smooth, much like her black, unwrinkled dress.“Are you Sister Marie?”“Yes, that’s me.” She smiles and extends her hand.“I came as soon as I received your letter.”“And I cannot tell you how grateful I am that you’ve agreed to take this on, Professor.” She exhales in a huff.“Your letter—I read it three times as I could hardly believe the detail...

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“Twenty Years to Ten” by V. S. Rose

Submitted to Contest #177

I like this boy. He seems like he cares. Once a week he comes to my room and talks to me about his life. He plans to be a personal support worker. I think he would make a good one. After I was diagnosed with this disease I had visitors for a while. My wife, kids, relatives, and old friends. My company now includes a runny meal a few times a day, a bitter instant coffee in the mornings, and the occasional seagull perched on my windowsill.The boy’s name is Ethan. He’s a good kid, a volunteer at the long-term care home I live in. I can sen...

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“Yesterday” by Kelsey H

Submitted to Contest #177

It was early morning and late in winter, the sky bruised and cold. Grass sheened with frost. I wanted to step outside and draw a deep breath of the air, feel the sharp cold of it filling me.Behind me, in the kitchen, my husband was on the phone to another woman. I turned to look at him. His hair was damp from the shower, face shaved.“Tonight will be fine,” he said. I could hear the soft lilt of her reply but couldn’t make out what she said.“If you come around eight no one else will be home,” he said. He hung up and turned toward me. His eyes...

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“Going Dutch” by Mike Panasitti

Submitted to Contest #177

It’s a Willy Wonka world out there. Dis-ease is sweeping the country. Not just the mutating variants of CoVid, but the malaise of racial discontent. Liberals and conservatives stoke the fires of cultural animosity. The left tries to bridge the interests of educated college kids and the urban underclass. This is the case, even though your average inner-city dweller, especially if they have criminal experiences, will rip off a bubbly idealistic undergraduate for their undergarments if given the chance. The right h...

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“Patient Number 1632” by Amanda Lieser

Submitted to Contest #177

Dear Reader, This story is about love and loss and sanity. It contains misunderstanding, miscommunication, and a few death threats. Read with caution.Amanda***Dear Reader,Ok, Ok, I know I am running behind, but you simply must forgive me. The next book absolutely will be out post haste! I am furiously researching, reading, learning, and maybe thinking about exploring for answers on my own-out in the real world. Hold your applause, please, Dear Reader. I can and will take my time with this next book. I simply believe it’s what this next ...

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“The Boy Next Door” by Lindsay Flo

Submitted to Contest #177

Teenage boys are like rough, unfinished works of art. They are paint on the canvas, nothing yet blended together with a brush, the final picture imagined but unknown. Clay on the wheel, unspun and uncreated, only glistening with possibility. They are everything their mothers saw in them when they were little boys and everything they’ll one day become, waiting to be born. But when you’re a teenage girl, you don’t know this. Adult Grace would study the past and say, there was more to Alexander Laurent than met her eye. There was more to hi...

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“Room for Me” by S N

Submitted to Contest #177

The frayed cuff of Lanelle Vidal’s gray cotton hoodie slid behind her, rustling up leaves as she paced in front of the local cinema. Car horns from across the street echoed through the parking lot, like the piercing flaps of a bat’s wings in a cave. “Are you almost here?” Lanelle asked into her mobile phone. “Yeah, but please go ahead and buy the ticket.”Lanelle refrained from stating the obvious: Charlie was supposed to have...

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“THE MIND IS A LONELY HUNTER” by Susan Catucci

Submitted to Contest #177

*** WARNING: Mild profanity. ***My body totally betrayed me when I was under anesthesia to have my tonsils removed. What I mean by that is, just because my heart stopped beating for like, what, twenty minutes or something, for that small span of time my brain just lacked a little bit of oxygen, nothing really to write home about. What’s the big deal? Then, all of a sudden, I’m like evicted, tossed out, given the bum’s rush. Jeesh. That’s gratitude for you. After all I’d done to keep fit and ready. Healthy e...

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“A Thousand Lies a Day” by Paul Michael Winters

Submitted to Contest #177

(Semi-Autobiographical Fiction)The bell rings, and within moments, students pour out of classroom doors. The hallway fills with the echoing sounds of laughter, shouting and squeaking sneakers. Throngs of students move in every direction, all racing against the nine-minute period break.I walk through this chaos, down the middle of the hallway. I’ve got my headphones on, listening to the latest album by INXS on my Walkman. Trying to tune out the world. I keep my eyes downward and make myself as invisible as possible. By being unremarkable, wit...

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“Nana's Vacation” by Jacob Brown

Submitted to Contest #177

I heard Nana speak, but I didn’t understand what she said. It was hard to understand her because I couldn’t see her face. Her bed was up on a frame too high for me to see over. The grownups all stood above the bed and looked down at her. I figured out where her face was because all the grownups were looking there. I heard Nana asking to see me but none of the grownups wanted to pick me up.Nana put her arm out over the bed, but the frame was too high and my arms were too short to reach her. I even tried standing on my tippy toes. Nana was wea...

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“A DESIRE TO DIE” by BRUCE MARTIN

Submitted to Contest #177

I remember the first time I wanted to die. I was nine years old and we were visiting my grandparents. After dinner, my grandfather said he didn’t feel well and had to lie down in bed. They called for an ambulance. I sat on the window sill of his room and watched him while he lay there moaning. And I thought, “I guess this is what it looks like as death approaches.” And it seemed very pleasant and exciting. Later on, when I started medical school, I found that I was fascinated by the cadavers in the anatomy lab. They all seemed so peace...

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“Camarones With The Crocodile: Tinkering Part 2” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #177

Disclaimer: Strong language, violence, and the aftermath of sexual abuse. 2015 San Ignacio, Sinaloa, Mexico The Crocodile was rapidly becoming the stuff of legend. A regionally popular band was making the charts with a driving narcocorrido about "Los Dientes Del Cocodrilo," and his bloody exploits on behalf of the Cartel de Sinaloa. The rising star of Mexico's Golden Triangle thus had bristled about meeting in this filthy side-street marisqueria in the tiny backwater of San Ignacio. He preferred the gran entrada -- the splashy entrance, t...

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“Actions and Results” by Alexander Hanna

Submitted to Contest #177

Lying in bed alone in his childhood room, the young man sulked over what he felt was his disappointing life. He was twenty-five years old, and he felt dull. He did not have any friends or a significant other. He simply worked online from home and saved money. In his free time, the young man watched television and surfed the internet. His lack of experience outside the house made him afraid to meet new people. He knew that, at some point in the small talk, people would ask, “What do you do for fun in your free time?” and he would be emba...

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Contest #177

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This week's theme: Found in Translation

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Title: Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen Without a Hearing Aid

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Write a story about a character who struggles to translate their thoughts and feelings into words and action.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 53 stories

“Screaming Flowers” by Wendy Kaminski

“The Papercut” by Liv Chocolate

“The Bare Necessities of Humanity” by Aeris Walker

“Twenty Years to Ten” by V. S. Rose

“Yesterday” by Kelsey H

“Going Dutch” by Mike Panasitti

“Patient Number 1632” by Amanda Lieser

“The Boy Next Door” by Lindsay Flo

“Room for Me” by S N

“THE MIND IS A LONELY HUNTER” by Susan Catucci

“A Thousand Lies a Day” by Paul Michael Winters

“Nana's Vacation” by Jacob Brown

“A DESIRE TO DIE” by BRUCE MARTIN

“Camarones With The Crocodile: Tinkering Part 2” by Martin Ross

“Actions and Results” by Alexander Hanna

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about two or more characters who don't speak each other's language (literally or metaphorically), but still find a way to communicate.

Set your story in a meeting where a professional interpreter takes some liberties, with major consequences.

Write about someone who is slowly forgetting their mother tongue or losing their language.

Lost in a foreign city where they don’t speak the language, your character uses a translation app to get around, but constantly runs into problems.

Contest #177

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

150

Contest entries

70

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: